Handling conventional cosmetic cases (preferably cosmetic compacts having a base and a lid known in the art for application of cosmetic material by means of an applicator such as a brush or sponge) can be cumbersome and inconvenient. This can be particularly problematic when the cosmetic case has to be held by one hand leaving the other hand free to remove the applicator from the cosmetic case and apply the cosmetic. The hand holding the cosmetic case not only controls the orientation of the base of the cosmetic case but also the orientation of the lid to make use of the mirror on the inside of the lid. This can make the application of the cosmetic material awkward since holding the base in one orientation in order to gain access to the cosmetic material or applicator results in the orientation of the mirror attached to the lid providing limited field of view to the user. Any attempt to orientate the lid to provide maximum field of view so that the entire face can be seen would be counter intuitive since the base of the cosmetic case would then be orientated in such a way as to make access to the cosmetic material and/or applicator awkward.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,422,018 (Dieudonat, Fabrice) has attempted to overcome this problem by providing a cosmetic case quadrangular in shape with two approximately parallel sides gripped by the user when holding the case. The hinge connecting the lid to the base is located at one of the four corners of the cosmetic case such that when the case is opened, the lid in which the mirror is fitted is offset from the base. This has the advantage that when the cosmetic case is held by one hand on the parallel gripping sides to conveniently access the cosmetic material and/or applicator, the lid in which the mirror is fitted is conveniently orientated so that the entire face can be seen in the mirror without being hindered by the base.
Despite the improvements made, the cosmetic case described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,422,018 still suffers from the problem of having only one fixed orientation of the lid with respect to the bottom when in an open configuration. As a result, the maximum viewing potential of the cosmetic case can only be achieved when the bottom is held in one fixed orientation, i.e. by gripping the parallel gripping sides of the bottom, and thereby limiting the holding flexibility of the cosmetic case in any other orientation. For example, orientating the cosmetic case outside the normal holding position would inevitably result in the lid and thus mirror moving out of the maximum field of view. More importantly, the location of the hinge at one of the four corners of the cosmetic case means that the hinge is restricted to being either a “left hand” hinge which means that when the case is open, the lid equipped with the mirror is offset to the left from the base or a “right handed” hinge whereby the lid equipped with the mirror is offset to the right from the base. This has implications when the cosmetic case is to be used by either a left-handed person or a right-handed person. Any attempt to make the case adaptable to be used by a left-handed or right-handed person would mean major structural changes to the cosmetic case, i.e. shifting the hinge from one corner to the other depending upon whether the user is left-handed or right-handed. Thus, there is a need to manufacture two versions of cosmetic cases for use by a right-handed user or a left-handed user. Ultimately, this would have implications to the wholesale vendor as they have no guarantee on the number of purchasers who are left-handed or right-handed. Ball-type joints are known to be used that allow the lid of the cosmetic case to rotate about more than one axis independently of the base, i.e. for opening the cosmetic case as well as adjusting the orientation of the lid with respect to the base (see EP0910969 (L'Oreal)). The continuing rotation of the ball in its corresponding socket over a period of time eventually causes the ball to become loose in its socket, thereby removing any significant friction between the surface of the ball and the inner surface of the socket. This prevents the lid being held in any desired position relative to the base.
A cosmetic case is thus required which does not suffer from the above problems and which is able to provide maximum field of view in the mirror regardless of the orientation of the cosmetic case and yet adaptable to be used by both left-handed or right-handed people.